Page 40 of The Hand that Frays

“You can,” I whisper, unable to find my voice.

He narrows his eyes at me in question.

“I belong to you, Butcher. You can mark me in any way you want to.”

He smirks. “Maybe I’ll collar you,” he jokes.

But my breathing hitches, and he notices the change.

He notices everything.

It’s one facet of him I’m obsessed with.

“Oh, would my stupid girl like to be collared?”

I bite my bottom lip, nodding. For a flash, I’m the nurse who’s crawling to him with his pills on my tongue all over again—nervous to admit my fetishes and fantasies.

“You know I love to give you whatever you want, wife.”

I silently whimper as he kisses me again. This time, though, it’s long and drawn out. Sweet.

“We’re going to need to put some stitches in your ass cheek,” Neo says, smirking as I realize I’ve been lying here bleeding through the hotel sheets.

When we leave, they’ll wonder what happened here.

But they’ll clean the mattress and wipe the evidence right under the rug.

“We’d better get to it, then. We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow,” I say with a yawn.

“Flip over. I’ll get my kit.”

I do so and don’t fight my heavy lids as they close.

Tomorrow, we have to go back to the reality of the case. Tonight, however, we’re just the Butcher and his stupid girl, fucking to the point of pain.

And blood.

The house is massive.

If there was any doubt that the Hatts were well off before, it’s gone now that I’m lurking in the dark behind Neo.

No one’s home yet, but Neo doesn’t want to draw attention to the house by having the light on. It gives our little stalking session an ambiance, I’ll admit.

“Let’s check the bedroom,” Neo calls over his shoulder, and I nod even though he can’t see me.

For an hour, we shift through belongings. Even meticulously check Carl’s desk.

We’re about to give up when my small flashlight beam finds the words ‘Ada’s punishments’ scrawled on the tab of a folder in the bottom right drawer of the desk.

“Neo,” I whisper, looking up at him where he’s closing the small closet to my right.

“Got something?”

I open the folder, finding the first words that read: first time using toilet cleaner in food. Ada refused to eat more than a few bites; I will update the results.

Tears well in my eyes as I look back at Neo and nod.

The sounds of people entering the dwelling filter through the open door, and Neo turns to me and inclines his head toward my light. I click it off, soundlessly closing the drawer before following him down the hall and into the nearly empty closet in the first-floor guest room.

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